Pakistan refuses to take part in Nato airstrike probe

Pakistan is refusing to take part in a US military investigation of the air
strikes which killed 24 of its soldiers, according to the Pentagon.

Pakistani protesters burn a U.S. flag during an anti-Nato rally in Peshawar, PakistanPhoto: AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad

10:28PM GMT 02 Dec 2011

The attack on Saturday plunged the two countries' fragile relationship into crisis and Islamabad has retaliated by ordering American forces out of a base used for drone strikes, blocking Nato convoys into Afghanistan and refusing to attend an international conference on Afghan development.

American investigators invited Pakistan to participate in the investigation but the country's military has refused.

"They have elected to date not to participate, but we would welcome their participation," said Pentagon press secretary George Little.

The United States has voiced regret over the strikes but has stopped short of issuing an apology while the American military conducts the investigation.

"It's safe to say that the incident has had a chilling effect on our relationship with the Pakistani military, no question about that," spokesman Captain John Kirby told reporters. "Both sides deem it to be as serious as it was."

US commanders and intelligence chiefs have long sought to cultivate relations with Pakistan's army, the country's most powerful institution, but the air strikes have caused outrage among the army's junior officers and fed popular resentment of Washington.

The Pakistani army called the strikes a "deliberate act of aggression" but US officials have declined to discuss publicly what transpired at two Pakistani border posts.

Captain Kirby suggested the US military would review its operations and tactics for forces stationed in eastern Afghanistan in the aftermath of the deadly strikes.

"Clearly, an incident like this causes you - and should cause you - to take a step back and look at how you're doing things and whether there need to be improvements made or any kind of tactical decisions ...(to) do things a little differently," he said.

Asked about reports that Pakistan's army has ordered troops to retaliate immediately if fired on, Captain Kirby said that "every sovereign nation has the right of self-defense and the right to order their troops to defend themselves."

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Pakistan approved the air strikes that killed their troops, unaware that its forces were in the area. The Pentagon refused to comment on the claim.